It begins...
My metamorphosis into an author
As Jon Mackenzie woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.
Well… it wasn’t quite so immediate. The idea of writing a book has been hanging over me for a while. In part, it stems from my own feelings of inadaquacy for never getting around to finishing my PhD. (Don’t ask - PhDs aren’t interesting to anyone except the people who write them and, in this case, the writer feels sick even thinking about it.)
In part, it emerges out of a context lived as a freelance writer who finds themselves always working on small projects with little or no connection between them. The chance to work on a more wide-ranging project is attractive for me - probably as some sort of naive reaction against the ephemerality and fragmentation that has emerged within late modernism or late capitalism - take your pick.
Mainly, though, it was prompted by a once in a lifetime opportunity: the chance to write about Marcelo Bielsa managing the club that I support.
I’ll be honest with you from the outset: I have very little idea about what writing a book entails. I have, in the course of my employment in the sports media, garnered some sort of awareness of what the process involves. Running The Football Media Podcast has given me the opportunity to interview a number of interesting people about their experiences of writing books. In recent months, I have spoken to literary agents and even worked through the production of book proposals for various side projects. I have also read some books, some of which were very good examples of what books should be.
But in terms of the process itself - nothing. Which brings me to this newsletter. I’ll front up. There are a number of functions I see this newsletter performing:
Predominantly, this is a selfish thing. I want to use it as a motivation. I want to get myself into the habit of writing something each week (however short) that forces me to think about the book and forces me to write something about the book (however spuriously linked).
I want to produce a record of the writing process that will both help me (as a sort of diary, I suppose) and other people (as an encouragement - if I can write a book, anyone can). I’m sure there are things out there that will be better, of course. But this brings me onto the next point…
I want to have a means of collaboration. Writing can be a *cringe* lonely experience. I want to share it with people who are interested in the subject and interested in the writing process. The book will be the better for it, no doubt, but also I’ll be the better for it. I want to hear your thoughts and inputs. I also want to feel like I’m not a complete nutter for doing this thing.
The world of publishing (particularly print publishing) is a brutal one at the best of times. This newsletter is me getting ahead of the curve on the PR front. If I can build an engaged audience here, then I can present it to potential publishers as proof that there may be some kind of market for the finished product.
And finally, I want this newsletter to operate as an accountability mechanism. If (when…) I inevitably get lazy and miss out a weekly edition, then I expect you to drop me a message and tell me to get my arse in gear.
So that’s the thinking behind this newsletter. You may be wondering what to expect from it. Well, I’m thinking along the lines of the following structure:
Introduction - letting you know where I’m at, what to expect from the newsletter this week, housekeeping, etc.
Progress Report - this will be entirely book focussed and will tell you what I’ve done that week, who I’ve spoken to, things I’m writing/thinking about. I’ll do my best to avoid spoilers as much as possible.
Thought of the Week - I’ll try and find a title that doesn’t sound quite so Radio 4 but this will be a mini-(I promise) essay on something usually sports/writing related (although I may touch on politics from time to time (urgh)).
Reading List - this will be a list of the articles/podcasts/TV programmes I’ve watched that week that you may find interesting. This by way of a record of my on-going research for posterity’s sake.
Currently Consuming - this will be a list of the books I’m currently reading. Hopefully, this will encourage me to get reading more so that books aren’t on there for too long and I look as inefficient as I really am.
That’s it. If you have any suggestions for other sections in the newsletter, do let me know. If you think this is a terrible idea, also let me know. If you have any ideas about the book itself, I would love to hear from you (especially if you or anyone you know has any anecdotal material about Marcelo Bielsa).
I’ll send the newsletter out on a Monday, I think. The first edition will give you some sort of overview of the idea of the book, so you have that to look forward to.
Here we go…